The present invention relates to an end fitting for a windscreen wiper of a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, and a vehicle windscreen wiper comprising such an end-fitting.
It is known practise to heat a motor vehicle windscreen wiper, in particular to de-ice it in winter. In the case where this wiper is equipped with internal windscreen washing liquid distribution channels, the heating of the wiper further makes it possible to heat the liquid before it is sprayed onto the windscreen of the vehicle, which facilitates the de-icing of the windscreen and can thus avoid the use of a manual ice scraper.
Typically, a windscreen wiper of the “flat wiper” type comprises a longitudinal body bearing a wiping blade, generally made of rubber, intended to rub against the windscreen of the vehicle to dispel water by bringing it out of the field of view of the driver. The wiper further comprises at least one longitudinal spine which confers a bowing on said wiping blade, so as to promote the application of this blade on the windscreen. The wiper is borne by an arm which is driven by a motor in an angular reciprocating motion. The link means linking the wiper to the arm generally comprises a connector which is secured to the body and an adapter which is hinged on the body and fixed to an end of the arm.
In the current art, the heating means of a windscreen wiper generally comprise a heating electrical conductor of resistive type.
It has already been proposed to equip the bowing spine of a wiper with heating means, these heating means taking the form of a film which is added and glued onto the spine and which includes a circuit or a track of a heating electrical conductor. In the current art, the heating electrical conductor of the circuit forms a loop, the ends of which are linked to electrical power supply terminals.
These terminals are situated in a median part of the spine and are intended to be connected to electrical connection means incorporated in the abovementioned connector. This connector, also called “mechanical” connector because of its mechanical cooperation with the adapter in particular, is intended to cooperate with another connector, called “electrical” connector, which is itself linked to a current source of the vehicle.
It will therefore be understood that, in the current art, the electrical power supply of a windscreen wiper is produced from the link means linking the wiper to the arm, which presents drawbacks.
The link means, and in particular the connector incorporate electrical connection means which make it complex to produce and therefore costly. That is emphasized when the connector also incorporates hydraulic connection means, intended to cooperate with another connector, called “hydraulic” connector, to supply the wiper with windscreen washer fluid.